I purchased a cobra 19, 4 ft. firestick, 18 ft coax and the firestick mounting hardware to mount the antenna on my rear tire carrier on my 1985 Full Size Bronco. I have good signal strength but it is always fuzzy and staticy sounding. Its constant. Any idea about how to get rid of this. I can hear people talking buts its real bad.
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New CB Hookup-Fuzzy Signal
- Thread starter bigdippin
- Start date
My first inclination would be to check for good Electrical contacts between the antenna and the radio. No intermittents, obviously loose things, etc. If the noise is constant, that's probably not what the problem is, but just a good thing to make sure of. That means good grounding too, the tire carrier doesn't 'wobble' does it? Might even try a jumper strap between the carrier and the vehicle body.
No miraculous cure? Then I'd start thinking about the radio being 'healthy'. Probably the least 'technical' thing would be to take the cover(s) off and look for things that don't look 'right'. That can be real fun! Huge amount of "I wonder if that thingy is really Ok?" there, good luck.
Then there's the other things to consider. Does it happen with the motor running or off? Key on/off? Electrical fuel pump, maybe?
And when you get a chance, have someone else listen to the setup, it may just be your ears are sort of 'fuzzy'? Or just band conditions? (Yeah, right. Well, do it anyway, good reality check and they may have an idea of what's going on.) Easy way of sort of isolating the problem is try the radio under a different setup. Problem cured? It's in the antenna system. No cure? At least you're no worse off than before, and sort of 'eye' that radio a little closer?
Sort of a 'fuzzy' answer? Yep! Those miraculous 'cures' are sort of like that...
- 'Doc
('is is gonna be a good day! Only one sip of coffee and I'm already a genius!)
No miraculous cure? Then I'd start thinking about the radio being 'healthy'. Probably the least 'technical' thing would be to take the cover(s) off and look for things that don't look 'right'. That can be real fun! Huge amount of "I wonder if that thingy is really Ok?" there, good luck.
Then there's the other things to consider. Does it happen with the motor running or off? Key on/off? Electrical fuel pump, maybe?
And when you get a chance, have someone else listen to the setup, it may just be your ears are sort of 'fuzzy'? Or just band conditions? (Yeah, right. Well, do it anyway, good reality check and they may have an idea of what's going on.) Easy way of sort of isolating the problem is try the radio under a different setup. Problem cured? It's in the antenna system. No cure? At least you're no worse off than before, and sort of 'eye' that radio a little closer?
Sort of a 'fuzzy' answer? Yep! Those miraculous 'cures' are sort of like that...
- 'Doc
('is is gonna be a good day! Only one sip of coffee and I'm already a genius!)
Is the Radio mounted to the bottom of the dash were the bracket makes good contact to the metal?
Make sure the tire carrier has a good ground, check it with a ohm meter....both open and closed.
Make sure the Mount is making good ground to the carrier, the paint on it is thick.
I assume you have checked the SWR on Transmit and it is good, if not it should be checked.
If you can unscrew the antenna connecter from the back of the radio, and high noise levels are still there, it is comming in through the power cord, Magmun makes a good power cord that is filtered, or you can home brew one. If the noise is gone, and comes back with the antenna hooked up, that is a little harder, need to stop it at the source.
As Doc asked, is it with the motor on or off?
If you are getting a bunch of noise with the motor off, you might have a radio problem.
I run a President Lincoln on Ten meters in a 1985 full size Bronco, with a 10-K antenna, about 16 foot of 8M (cut to fit) antenna is mounted to the tire Carrier, and it works very well.
If your bronco is noisey (mine is, 3" dual exhaust dumping out the side, just ahead of the axle,Flowmasters) it will help to run an extension speaker If you are running the volume wide open to hear it .
Some of the smaller radios have an even smaller speaker in them, not good.
Let us know the answers to these questions.
73
Jeff
Make sure the tire carrier has a good ground, check it with a ohm meter....both open and closed.
Make sure the Mount is making good ground to the carrier, the paint on it is thick.
I assume you have checked the SWR on Transmit and it is good, if not it should be checked.
If you can unscrew the antenna connecter from the back of the radio, and high noise levels are still there, it is comming in through the power cord, Magmun makes a good power cord that is filtered, or you can home brew one. If the noise is gone, and comes back with the antenna hooked up, that is a little harder, need to stop it at the source.
As Doc asked, is it with the motor on or off?
If you are getting a bunch of noise with the motor off, you might have a radio problem.
I run a President Lincoln on Ten meters in a 1985 full size Bronco, with a 10-K antenna, about 16 foot of 8M (cut to fit) antenna is mounted to the tire Carrier, and it works very well.
If your bronco is noisey (mine is, 3" dual exhaust dumping out the side, just ahead of the axle,Flowmasters) it will help to run an extension speaker If you are running the volume wide open to hear it .
Some of the smaller radios have an even smaller speaker in them, not good.
Let us know the answers to these questions.
73
Jeff
The static is heard with the vehicle on or off. I have a ground wire running from the antenna to the rear body of the bronco. I also have the cb case grounded. I have the cb mounted to the center console, so thats why I have it grounded.
I will unscrew the antenna connector when I get off work and see if the static is still there.
Thanks for the advise thus far.
I will unscrew the antenna connector when I get off work and see if the static is still there.
Thanks for the advise thus far.
Yes, absolutely. Also, I just went out and unhooked the antenna wire from the radio like previously stated and I get no noise, but also, no signal.
The only thing installed is a cd player that never really gets turned on. I love listening to the cb when I'm driving the bronco but its so hard with all the static. I will take the cb back tomorrow and see if that helps.
Could moving the antenna to the mirror help? Someone on another forum suggested that I hook up an antenna on each mirror mount and that would improve my problem.
Could moving the antenna to the mirror help? Someone on another forum suggested that I hook up an antenna on each mirror mount and that would improve my problem.
Thanks, i really didn't want to have to move it. I guess my next thing to do is try another radio.
cb is noisy most of the time. its not the radio. turn it on late at night thats when it has a clearer sound. i doubt its the radio or anything to do with your setup.
I don't think anyone asked this yet........ what is your match like?
It sounds like the static is fairly constant like its a poor rx problem. A 4 foot Firestick is a really poor rxing antenna to begin with. From what I understand where the antenna is mounted, part of the antenna is below the roof line. You don't want any metal around the antenna.... any metal that comes near the antenna will cause the match to increase... it will also effect your rx.
There are 2 probleems with Firestick type antennas.... the first is they need to be at least 6 feet long before they start to work reasonably well.... don't expect much from a 4 footer. The second thing is they are a wire wound antenna.... and as such the wire needs to be connected to the stud mount at the base of the antenna... most of time this is just a crimped connection, some are soldered. Its very common to have intermittant connections at this connection point. When the antenna moves back and forth when the vehicle is moving is when you really notice problems with this connection.
I realise that sometimes you can't use a long antenna... my point is for you not to expect too much performance out of a single 4 foot Firestick.
So first thing to do is check your match..... the antenna should have a "flying ground lead" on it ( piece of wire at base of antenna) try connecting this to ground... check your match... then try doing the same without the flying ground lead connected... somtimes you can get a better match with it off than on and vice versa.
There is only 2 place interfernce can come in from..... power input and antenna. You have to figure out if you have poor rx ( bad match), or if this is interference coming in through power or antenna.
The radio isn't the greatest to begin with either, but it should rx ok with a good antenna. Check your match... if its good you should get OK ( not the best because of the antenna) recieve.
Rule out antenna system problems first by checking your swr.
It sounds like the static is fairly constant like its a poor rx problem. A 4 foot Firestick is a really poor rxing antenna to begin with. From what I understand where the antenna is mounted, part of the antenna is below the roof line. You don't want any metal around the antenna.... any metal that comes near the antenna will cause the match to increase... it will also effect your rx.
There are 2 probleems with Firestick type antennas.... the first is they need to be at least 6 feet long before they start to work reasonably well.... don't expect much from a 4 footer. The second thing is they are a wire wound antenna.... and as such the wire needs to be connected to the stud mount at the base of the antenna... most of time this is just a crimped connection, some are soldered. Its very common to have intermittant connections at this connection point. When the antenna moves back and forth when the vehicle is moving is when you really notice problems with this connection.
I realise that sometimes you can't use a long antenna... my point is for you not to expect too much performance out of a single 4 foot Firestick.
So first thing to do is check your match..... the antenna should have a "flying ground lead" on it ( piece of wire at base of antenna) try connecting this to ground... check your match... then try doing the same without the flying ground lead connected... somtimes you can get a better match with it off than on and vice versa.
There is only 2 place interfernce can come in from..... power input and antenna. You have to figure out if you have poor rx ( bad match), or if this is interference coming in through power or antenna.
The radio isn't the greatest to begin with either, but it should rx ok with a good antenna. Check your match... if its good you should get OK ( not the best because of the antenna) recieve.
Rule out antenna system problems first by checking your swr.